Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02415999 2003-O1-09
Simplified Adjustable Tine Harrow Assembly
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to agricultural tillage implements,
and more specifically to adjustable harrow assemblies.
Background of the Invention
Toothed harrow attachments are commonly mounted behind tillage
implements such as field cultivators to level soil and help break up large
clods.
Several ranks of teeth are supported from a drawbar arrangement, and for
accommodating tooth adjustments of the aggressiveness of the harrow, the ranks
often are pivotally connected to bracket members attached to drawbars. Such
attachments include a relatively large number of components, including
numerous
nuts, bolts and washers which mount the ranks and connect angle adjusting
links.
Properly assembling the components and torquing the nuts for maintaining
adjustability while eliminating excess looseness in the assembly is a
difficult and
time-consuming task. The numerous components require a lengthy assembly
process and add significant manufacturing costs. Such harrows can also be
difficult
for the operator to adjust and maintain.
A further problem with the conventional harrow design is providing adequate
ground clearance during transport of the attachment. A limited amount of space
for
the rank-supporting structures and adjusting links often prevents pivoting of
the teeth
to a retracted position for increasing the clearance.
On harrow attachments having adjustable down-pressure springs on the
drawbars, providing a simple and reliable adjustment bolt lock has been a
continuing
source of difficulty. Conventional latch mechanisms wear heavily because of
relative
movement between the adjustment screw and the latch. Heavy vibration common in
the assembly can also result in loss of desired down-pressure adjustment.
Summary of the Invention
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved
harrow attachment for an agricultural implement. It is a further object to
provide such
an attachment which overcomes most or all of the aforementioned problems.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved harrow
CA 02415999 2003-O1-09
attachment having adjustable teeth. It is yet another object to provide such
an
attachment which has fewer components and is less costly and time-consuming to
assemble and maintain than at least most previously available adjustable
harrow
attachments.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an improved harrow
attachment having adjustable teeth which can be adjusted to obtain various
ground
profiles and which can be pivoted to a transport position to increase ground
clearance.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an improved harrow
attachment having a simple and reliable down pressure adjustment lock.
In accordance with the above objects, an improved harrow attachment
includes several clevis-like mounting castings pivotally connected between two
identical flat side sheets by a like number of bolt assemblies. A drag link
which
pivots the ranks in unison is pinned to the legs of the mounting casting
between the
sheets by free-floating pins captured between the sheets. The bolt and free-
floating
pin design eliminates numerous components and makes fabrication and
maintenance less expensive and time-consuming. The design also allows the
castings to pivot farther and the drag link to tuck and be pinned in a
transport
position for increased clearance between the teeth and the ground.
The rear mounting casting has a longer clevis structure than the remainder
of the castings and serves as a tine angle setting or aggressive stop when a
stop pin
is inserted through apertures in the plates. The ability to adjust tine angle
allows
different final soil profiles to be obtained. By increasing tine down-pressure
and
orienting the tines in a generally vertical position, tough large clods can be
sized.
Decreasing tine down-pressure and decreasing or flattening the tine angle
facilitates
high residue flow through the harrow without plugging or bunching.
To retain the down-pressure spring adjustment in the desired position, a
short section of apertured square tubing or a casting with a round inner
surface and
rectangular outer surface is placed over the threaded portion of the bolt. An
aperture
in the bolt is aligned with the apertures in the tubing or casting, and a
spring pin is
inserted. The tubing or casting, which is sandwiched between the sides of the
spring
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support legs, prevents rotation of the bolt from the adjusted position.
Brief Descri~~tion of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a harrow attachment.
FIG. 2. is an exploded view of a portion of the harrow attachment of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view, partially in section, showing of portion of the
harrow
attachment with the tine adjustment in the maximum depth working position.
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FtG. 3 but showing the adjustment in the transport
position.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the down-pressure adjustment for the harrow
attachment.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of a rank support casting for the
harrow
attachment.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Referring to FIG. 1, therein is shown a portion of a harrow 10 including a
drawbar 12 having a forward end pivotally connected by a pin 14 with roll pins
at
each end to a support bracket 16. The bracket 16 includes a mounting portion
18
adapted for securing against the aft face of an implement frame member (not
shown), such as the rear transverse tubular frame member of a field
cultivator.
The bracket 16 extends upwardly to a spring support 20 having spaced side
walls 22 for receiving the forward portion of a down-pressure spring assembly
24. A
spring bracket 28 extends upwardly from the drawbar 12 rearwardly of the pivot
pin
14 and supports the aft end of the assembly 24.
An adjustable tine support assembly 30 is pivotally connected to the aft end
of the drawbar 12 by a bolt or pivot pin assembly 32 extending though
apertures 33,
and a bolt or pin 34 located forwardly of the pin 32 and passing through sets
of
apertures 34a or 34b in the drawbar 12 and a selected aperture 35 locks the
assembly 30 in the desired angular position relative to the drawbar 12. As
shown in
FtG. 1, three ranks of tines 41, 42 and 43 are carried by the adjustable tine
support
assembly 30.
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The assembly 20 includes a pair of plates 50, which preferably are planar
and identical for ease of manufacture and assembly. An upper edge of each
plate is
generally straight, and a lower edge includes notch locations 51, 52 and 53 to
accommodate pivoting of the ranks of tines 41 - 43 to a rearward tucked
transport
position. Tine support brackets 61, 62 and 63 are pivotally mounted between
the
plates 50 adjacent the lower edge by bolts 66 and bushings 68 (FIG. 2). The
bolts
66 extend through apertures 67 near the lower edge of the plates and through
the
bushings 68. The bolt and bushing combinations not only provide pivot surfaces
for
the support brackets but also acts to tie the lower portions of the two plates
50, while
the top portions of the plates 50 are spaced solidly by the aft end of the
drawbar 12
and the bolts 32 and 34. A tight joint is formed with the drawbar 12, and
structural
strength is increased significantly over previous structures having looser
joints so
that fewer drawbars for a given width of harrow attachment are required.
The brackets 61 and 62 are generally identical and are preferably fabricated
as castings having a clevis area or pair of transversely spaced upright legs
70
connected to lower transversely extending apertured attaching flanges 72. The
rear
support bracket 63 (FIG. 6) is similar in construction to the brackets 61 and
62 but
includes longer upright legs 70' which project radially from the pivot area
beyond
sets of apertures 76 which receive pin 78. The pin 78 acts as a tine angle
setting
stop by limiting the pivoting of the brackets in the counter-clockwise
direction as
viewed in FIGS. 1 - 4. The brackets 61 - 63 pivot clockwise until the legs hit
the tine
angle setting pin 78. The tines freely rotate in the counter-clockwise
direction to
avoid tine damage if the harrow is backed up while the tines are contacting
the
ground. The pin 78 can also be used to secure the tines in a retracted
transport
position (FIG. 4) when placed behind the legs 70' in the forwardmost aperture
pair
location 76f.
A flat connecting link 80 of preselected thickness is pivotally connected
between the legs 70 and 70' to constrain the brackets 61 - 63 for pivoting in
unison
about the bolts 66 and bushings 68. The legs 70 and 70' include apertures 84
with
inwardly projecting bosses 86 which are transversely spaced a distance
approximately equal to the preselected thickness of the link 80 to sandwich
the link
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80 and maintain it in generally an upright plane. A single cylindrical pin 88
of length
approximately equal to the spacing of the outer walls of the legs 70 is
inserted
through each of the aperture pairs 84 and through a corresponding aperture in
the
link 80. After assembly of the harrow 10, the pins 88 float in the apertures
84 and
are held in position by the inner walls of the plates 50 thereby reducing the
amount
of necessary hardware, assembly time, and maintenance. The compact
arrangement of the link 80 within the bosses of the legs of the bracket clevis
also
provides a clean design and increases the angle through which brackets 61 - 63
can
pivot and move to a transport location for increased ground clearance.
The drawbar 12 and the bolt or pivot pin assembly 32 space the upper end
of the plates 50, and the bolts 66 and bushings 68 which pass though apertures
94
and bosses 96 on the bracket castings (FIG. 6) below the apertures 84 space
the
lower portions of the plates 50. Nuts 98 threaded onto the ends of the bolts
66
secure the plates 50 against the ends of the bushings 68 and maintain the
plates in
generally a parallel relationship.
Transversely extending tine bars 100 (FIG. 1 ) are bolted to the flanges 72
and support earthworking tools 102 such as spring tines or the like. The
brackets 61
- 63 pivot in unison in the clockwise direction until the forward edges of the
legs 70'
of the rear bracket 63 engage the pin 78. By selecting a different set of
apertures 76
and changing the location of the pin 78, the angle and thus the aggressiveness
and
depth of operation of the tools 102 can be changed. If the working depth of
the
towing implement changes the height of the support bracket 16 relative to the
ground
changes for any reason, the pin 34 may be relocated relative to the apertures
35
and/or the apertures 34a and 34b to level the harrow 10.
The down pressure spring assembly 24 includes a spring 114 compressed
between a pair of nuts 116 threaded onto a bolt or threaded rod 118. A single
jam
nut or other retaining structure may also be used in place of the two nuts
116. The
forward end of the rod 118 is threaded through a turnbuckle 120, and a nut to
the rod
118 or other enlarged end 122 at the opposite end of the rod 118 retains the
assembly 24 in position and provides a positive down stop limit for the harrow
10.
By adjusting the rod 118 relative to the turnbuckle 120, down stop limit can
be
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changed. Because of the extreme vibrations in the harrow 10, a positive anti-
rotation
assembly 130 is provided for the forward end of the rod 118 to secure the
assembly
in the position for the desired down-pressure. The assembly 130 includes a
short
section of square tubing or apertured casting 132 which slides over the
forward end
of the rod 118. The square tubing or casting 132 and the rod 118 have bores
which
can be aligned, and a spring pin 136 is inserted through the aligned bores.
The
cross-sectional width of the square tubing or casting 132 assures that the
device will
slide between the spaced side walls 22 of the bracket 16 but will not rotate
between
the walls. Therefore, when the spring pin 136 is inserted, the rod 118 cannot
rotate.
Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become apparent that
various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the
invention
as defined in the accompanying claims.
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